Spawn patterns for Falcons and Valkyries should be a bit more interesting now.
• No more endless last mission
So, we've been trying the endless mode for a bit now but I think Afterburn is more fun when there is a score ceiling. For most of us it wont change much, I've noticed that most people dont go beyond the 3rd-4th wave of the last mission anyway. What do you think?
Whats next?
I've been working on better terrains and its time to add a new enemy type.
v0.78
Quick update to tweak a few things.
• Extra-time tweaking
Back to how it was a bunch of versions ago: 15 sec for cargo / radar, 10 sec for valkyries, 5 sec for falcons. In endless the values drop after each wave to a minimum of 20%.
• No more crashing with enemy jets
I guess a few of you will like this one.
• Added 'Target Lock' option
Set how fast it takes to change target.
v0.77
Mission waves.
Last mission is endless.
Aircraft variants tweaking.
Added 'X' variant.
Waves and mission changes
We are down to 5 missions total, with waves and they should ramp a bit better than before. The last mission has endless waves but extra time on kill is down to 5 seconds: beware this is just the first iteration, I'm sure it will need a lot of tweaking.
Aircraft variants
Skins, which are now called 'variants', are a bit more clear-cut and armor values are not as punishing as before except for the new 'X' variant. Some of you were expecting a variant that gives extra time in exchange for some handicap, I tried it but it did not feel right. The new 'X' is more in line with the vision of the game.
That's it!
v0.75 and v0.76
v0.75
Added simple aircraft customization.
Added basic tutorials.
'Falcon-C' is the new 'Falcon'
'Falcon-M' is now the 'Hawk'
Tweaking and polishing
v0.76
Better timing for tutorial pop-ups.
Weapon overheating mechanic.
Auto-Turret buffed and added to the 'Hawk'.
Added wider FOV option.
The big change, aircraft customization
I know, not a lot of options so far but I think this is the right direction: not many aircrafts but each with distinct mobility and customization options in the form of skins and weapons.
At the moment the 'Falcon' focuses on guns, the 'Hawk' on missiles/rockets and the upcoming one, the 'Eagle', will probably have all kinds of weapons. But I think it would be also nice to give some guns to the 'Hawk' and some missiles to the 'Falcon' via achievements.
I hope that will be a welcome change. Please, let me know what you think!
v0.75 Preview
Wanted to release this today but I need a few more days so here's a little sneak peek:
v0.74
Fixed game-breaking bug: the game could freeze on the mission recap screen.
Testing new scoring.
Valkyries nerfed a bit.
So, what is this new scoring about?
Accuracy is no longer a major factor but it is added as a bonus at the end, along with the time bonus. Not sure how this will play out but usually simpler things works best. Lets try this.
I've also been working on something more substantial but had to rush this update because of that bug, hopefully next update.
Thats it, see you on the leaderboards!
v0.73
Target locking improved: less jumping around.
General gameplay tweaking.
Falcon-C tweaking: easier aiming but less extra time on kill.
Some polishing here and there.
It's not the content patch I was planning for but I'd like to tackle some of the balancing issues we've been discussing on the forums lately.
So, each player aircraft has its own 'extra time on kill' now: the Falcon has the most (13 sec), the Falcon-C the least (7 sec) and the Falcon-M stays at 10 sec. Plus, you get the 'time bonus' on any mission outcome, not only on completion.
There's also a better steam input default config, if you are using it you might have to re-apply it.
That's it, let me know what you think!
v0.72
Missions tweaking: 6 missions total, adjusted a bit the difficulty curve and added a couple more enemy spawns.
Fixed AI aiming + more effective barrel rolls: now the AI uses the fixed aim prediction of v0.71 and so I had to make barrel rolls more effective (Falcon-C has the best improvement in that regard).
Improved Falcon-M missiles.
Added controls options: if the mouse controls seem too different try "cursor curve: linear". Also for controllers there is a "stick accel" option, off by default, you might want to try it with the Falcon-C.
Added HUD color option.
Quick thought about missions: with only 4 enemy types things become a bit stale after 4 missions. Adding these new enemy spawns helps but I think its time to add a few more enemy types, to make things more fresh for later missions.
So, unless there's something broken with this update that needs fixing I'm thinking about taking 2-3 weeks for the next update to work on new enemies and perhaps adding a new aircraft.
Sounds good?
v0.71
Fixed aim prediction.
Fixed some controller issues.
Another quick update, I wanted to wait and put some more stuff in it but the fixed prediction code does make the shooting quite more enjoyable, especially with the Falcon-C.
v0.70
First quick update:
Day over event handled correctly: if you are playing a mission and the day ends the mission will stop and the score at that moment will be uploaded.
Mission 1 and 2 tweaking: just a couple enemies more.
Extra time values tweaking: 10 for falcons, 15 for valkyries, 20 for radards, 20 for cargos, 10 for cargo damage and 2 for cargo mines.
Barrel roll sound + better "tap" option (to try go to menu > controls > barrel roll)
